The Realities of Homelessness and 'Back to School'

For many families, September means back-to-school activities: shopping for notebooks and pens, new clothes, and reuniting with friends after summer break. But for thousands of students--and their parents--experiencing homelessness ... ‘back to school’ means stress and the frustration of navigating enrollment and attendance without the security of a place to call home. We talk with Baltimore City Public Schools homeless-student liaison Allen Blackwell and with Danielle DeShields, a formerly homeless mother of three, and with Healthcare for the Homeless social worker Debbie Wilcox. Visit this link for more information on Health Care for the Homeless.

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More than a century after Fort McHenry repulsed the British bombardment of 1814, it took on a new life as the largest army receiving hospital of the first World War. Thousands of wounded American soldiers and sailors were treated and medical advances were made, especially in facial surgery.

National Park Service Curator Gregory Weidman says the fort hospital aimed to heal the whole person. It offered physical therapy and training in job skills and set up a baseball team and a weekly newspaper.

Gregory Weidman will speak about General Hospital 2 at noon and again at 3 pm tomorrow and Sunday. The park is also hosting many daytime family and children’s events to celebrate the 204th anniversary of the defense of Baltimore. Kids can ‘enlist’ as a soldier in the War of 1812, practice military drills, try on 1814-style uniforms and visit army barracks.

One hundred years ago, the Spanish flu marched across the globe, leaving between 50 and 100 million people dead in its wake. An exhibit The 1918 Flu Epidemic and Baltimore: 100 Years Later, at the Frieda O. Weise Gallery on the University of Maryland Baltimore campus, chronicles what was going on in the city. Professor Wilbur Chen, a vaccine development specialist, tells us how the flu spreads, and how to prevent it. And Tara Wink, UMB librarian and archivist, offers takeaways from what she learned in compiling the exhibit. The opening for the exhibit is Thursday, Sept. 13 at 10:30am, RSVP here. The exhibit is in conjunction with "Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World," at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Psychics, ouiji boards, nightmares - The Noir and Bizarre, a WYPR original podcast, isn’t afraid to get spooky. Producer Katie Marquette delves into questions about human existence and explores the strange stories we tell ourselves about death.

From Meryl the Mummy--on display at the Walters Art Museum--to Edgar Allan Poe’s grave, Marquette explores Baltimore history with the mysterious in mind.